Tough Week!
This past week’s rock and roll health report includes the passing of ‘60’s teen idol James Darren, session bassist Herbie Flowers and innovative icon Sergio Mendes, a stroke for Brian May of Queen, near blindness for Elton John, as well as the cancellation of Paula Abdul’s upcoming tour.
Sergio Mendes passed away on Thursday, September 5th. He was 83 years old and it is believed this may be the result of a severe case of Covid.
Mendes brought a whole new sound to the music scene when he burst on the charts in 1966 … but it was the “Anything Goes” ‘60’s and we were quick to embrace his Brazilian jazz. An early favorite, “Mas Que Nada,” only got as high as #47 (and that was in Billboard … Cash Box ranked it at #75!) but my guess is despite this fact, you’d recognize it the moment you heard it. (Still, that’s not bad for a song sung entirely in Portuguese!)
Signed to the A&M record label, Sergio’s interpretations of hits like “The Look Of Love,” “The Fool On The Hill” and “Scarborough Fair” kept him in The Top 20 for most of the decade. (We were fortunate enough to see him a few years ago … and it was a very enjoyable show: https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/search?q=sergio+mendes)
Mendes made a bit of a comeback in the early ‘80’s with hits like “Never Let You Go” (#4, 1983) and one of my favorites, “Alibis” (#29, 1984)
When labelmate (and his boss!) Herb Alpert married one of Mendes’ lead female singers (Lani Hall), it siderailed the group for a little bit … but Sergio bounced back when he married one of his new lead singers, Gracinha Leporace, a union that had already lasted over fifty years at the time of his passing.
Mendes was a three-time Grammy winner. Alpert posted:
“Sergio Mendes was my brother from another country. He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance [and] joy.” (kk)
From Jim Roup (by way of Harvey Kubernik):
RIP
Here is Sergio and his wife Gracinha after dinner at Le'Dome restaurant.
More from Harvey …
I interviewed Bones Howe in 2014 and we talked about hit record Brazilian Pop Innovator, Sergio Mendes
"None of us really knew how much influence the transistor radio was gonna have," engineer and producer Bones Howe told me in a 2014 interview. Portions were published in my 2014 book, "Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll in Los Angeles 1956-1972."
"The transistor radio was for the ball games. Studio guys had the thing in their pocket and an earphone; while they were recording, [they] were really listening to the Dodger game. What you had to do was listen to the radio and know what your records were gonna sound like when they got played. That’s how people went and bought them."
In 1964, Herb Alpert formed a live Tijuana Brass unit for touring that formally debuted in 1965. The group recorded the most popular instrumental version of “A Taste of Honey,” included on their 1965 album, Whipped Cream and Other Delights. Their rendition ruled the easy listening charts for weeks, and Whipped Cream won Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 1966.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Did you mean this one??? <--kk)
The critical and retail success of Alpert and his band encouraged A&M to sign additional acts, including South Bay’s Chris Montez, the Sandpipers, Burt Bacharach, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Sergio Mendes and Brazil ’66, and the Baja Marimba Band with Julius Wechter, the marimba player with the Tijuana Brass.
"This is how loose AM radio was back then," continued Howe.
"Herb Alpert and I had known each other. He was sort of on the fringe of the jazz world. I got a call from him in 1966, and he wanted to do a session at Western Studio 3. 'I’ve signed this Brazilian band, and I’ve got to do a single record with them. I’m going through the Brazil ’66 songs now, and I’ve got to get through this in three hours.'
"So we go into the studio, and we do this song called “The Joker” from a Broadway show. Now, we’ve got half an hour and have to do a B-side. Sergio Mendes says, 'I’ve got this song that we do that everybody likes. Let’s put it on the B-side.' [It was] 'Mas Que Nada.'
"I loved that session. The percussion elements — those were real players, not studio players. The difference between them playing 'The Joker' and then, when they got cut loose, 'Mas Que Nada' . . . it was completely different, and just wonderful. It had so much energy. It carried the other side.
"Jerry [Moss] was a terrific promotion man. He took the 'The Joker' record out and played it to a DJ, who said to him, 'What’s on the other side?' He spun it. 'We’ll put that on the radio.' Can you imagine?
"The wonderful thing, later, about FM was that it was much truer to the studio mix than it was on radio station KHJ, coming out of little car radios and all the rest of that. Because it was very squelched, very limited on AM."
James Darren died last week, too … he was 88 years old.
Known as both an actor and a singer, Darren hit The National Top 40 six times between 1959 and 1967, scoring back-to-back Top Ten Hits with “Goodbye Cruel World” (#2, 1961) and “Her Royal Majesty” (#6, 1962.)
His first chart hit was the title song from the hit teen film “Gidget” (#24, 1959), in which he also starred, opposite Sandra Dee (who married ANOTHER Darin a year later!) Darren also starred in the television cult hit “Time Tunnel” in 1967, returning to the charts that year with the #33 Hit “All.”
Haven't seen this pop up in this week's blogs, but then again the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.
Movie star (Moondoggie in the Gidget films), TV Star (The Time Tunnel and The Flintstones as James Darrock), and singer James Darren passed on Labor Day, September 2, at the age of 88.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/movies/james-darren-dies.html
-- Tim Kubat
No, that’s just me falling behind again … but as you can see, the info is posted right above your inquiry! Thanks, Tim! (kk)
And we just read this morning about the passing of innovative bassist Herbie Flowers, who also died on the 5th of September.
Flowers' bass lines helped to define British hits like "Bang A Gong" by T.Rex and "Rock On" by David Essex. He also played the memorable riff on Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side," David Bowie's "Space Oddity," Nilsson's "Jump Into The Fire" and recorded with legends Elton John, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Herbie (real name Brian Keith Flowers) was 86. (kk)
Brian May of Queen suffered a minor stroke last week. The news was kept very quiet until Brian could determine as to what extent this might affect his ability to play the guitar.
He was therefore very happy to report:
“The good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days. I say this because it was in some doubt, because [a] little health hiccup … happened about a week ago – what they called it was a minor stroke.
“All of a sudden, out of the blue, I didn’t have any control over this arm. So it was a little scary, I have to say.” He went on to thank the staff at the hospital he’d attended, recalling the experience of “blue lights flashing, the lot” as “very exciting.”
May had kept quiet because, he explained, “I didn’t want anything surrounding it. I really don’t want sympathy – please don’t do that, because it’ll clutter up my inbox, and I hate that.”
“I’m okay and doing what I’m told, which is basically
nothing. I’m grounded; I’m not allowed to go out, drive, get on a plane; I’m
not allowed to raise the heart rate too high. But I am good.”
Meanwhile, Elton John is recovering from a severe eye infection that caused him
some blindness in one eye.
From Sir Elton:
"Over the summer, I've been dealing with a severe eye
infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye. I am healing, but it's an extremely slow
process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.
"I am so grateful for the excellent team of doctors and
nurses and my family, who have taken such good care of me over the last several
weeks. I have been quietly spending the
summer recuperating at home, and am feeling positive about the progress I have
made in my healing and recovery thus far."
Paula Abdul was scheduled to begin a 21-city tour on September 25th,
taking her to Canada, Alaska and North Dakota.
However, due to the proper amount of recovery time needed for a recent injury (which will also require a minor medical procedure), she had to announce the cancellation of her upcoming dates, which included Taylor Dayne and Tiffany as opening acts.
“It’s with an incredibly heavy heart that I need to share with you an update regarding some injuries I’ve recently sustained. In an effort to keep going, I’ve received targeted injections that will allow me temporary relief, but the demands of an entire tour is a different story.
“After multiple consultations with my doctors and exploring all available options, I’ve been advised that one of my injuries requires a minor procedure followed by a 6-8 week recovery time. Therefore, it will prohibit me from proceeding with the Straight Up! To Canada Tour as well as the dates in Alaska and North Dakota.”
No mention was made as to whether this was a postponement (meaning these dates would eventually be rescheduled once Paula was strong enough to tour again) or a flat out cancellation altogether. (kk)
Stephen Stills will join Neil Young on October 5th for a special benefit performance to raise money for The Painted Turtle Camp and The Bridge School in Lake Hughes, California.
Although they are scheduled to perform separate sets, you just KNOW they’re going to get together at some point during the night to rock the crowd.
All proceeds will support The Painted Turtle, which provides children with serious medical conditions a free and transformative camp experience year round, and The Bridge School, which offers essential educational services to children with severe speech and physical disabilities.
Tickets are on sale now: https://www.harvestmoongathering.com/
Here’s a review of a recent Beach Boys concert (September 1st) …
Sounds like Mike and Bruce are still having fun, fun, fun performing all of their classic hits! (kk)
https://bestclassicbands.com/beach-boys-2024-review-9-5-24/
This week's Satellite Survey on Sirius / XM's '60's Gold Channel is counting down the 40 biggest hits for this week in 1964 ...
Just like WE did yesterday with this week's SUPER CHART from exactly 60 YEARS AGO TODAY! (scroll back to see it!)
As mentioned, we've fallen a bit behind again ...
So look for more Comments Pages Monday and Tuesday! (kk)
